Sunday, February 27, 2011

Let's take a break from papier mache because that's boring. Actually doing it isn't boring, but blogging about it sure was. But I got the flu last week and had nothing else to talk about anyway because you DON'T want to hear about the stomach flu, right?

Anyway... I'm finally feeling much better today so we bundled up the boys for the Himalayas, even though we really just went to Oak Glen. It was GORGEOUS! Lots of people parked all over the sides of the road on the way up, but we went to our favorite place in Oak Glen {Los Rios Rancho} and got a parking spot right smack in front of a huge field of snow. On our way back down the hill we decided that all those crazies parked on the main road playing on the side of the road were probably from LA and had no idea what gorgeousness was just up the hill a bit. Yay for us :)

Sam was in snow angel heaven. This kid LOVES the snow. He soooo didn't get that from me, as I'm more of a curl up in a cabin and watch the snow from a window while sipping hot chocolate and reading a good book kind of person. But Sam loved it so much he piled it on top of his own head.

Jake kept his mittens on for approximately 1.2 seconds. He thought the snow tasted yummy, like Slurpees. Which is good to know because now I know I can skip loading all the boys into their carseats to go to 7-11 and just crush up ice at home and Jake will be happy :) And yes, I made sure it was clean.

And Luke opened his eyes once but decided that napping was better than the snow.

We stopped for take-out from El Pollo Loco and redboxed "Megamind" on the way home. Redboxed is now an adjective, you know. It was pretty good but at the end of the movie we were still quoting all of our favorite lines frombecause Luke in his little snowsuit today was "sooooo fluffy!"

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Sam's doing an art/written report on a lion in Kindergarten. Now that I'm up to my elbows in sticky, watery glue I have newfound respect for my elementary school teachers that took on papier mache projects with twenty + kids! I woke up to him leaning over my bed this morning with his art apron on and a Target bag full of little torn pieces of newspaper in hand. "Time to papier mache, Mom!"

The head {made from a Red Robin balloon!} and the body/legs {made from an old formula can and 4 empty tp rolls} are all drying in the sun right now. Sam's running in every two minutes to tell me that "They're DRY!!!" even though they're still quite damp. I really do love having such a motivated, artsy kid. Oh, and he also papier mached the bathroom door knob, but that was on accident as he tried to open the door to wash his hands! Looking forward to seeing how he paints his lion... part three coming soon.

We've been gathering supplies for Sam's Kindergarten Open House project... a papier mache lion and a little written/illustrated report on lions. On Saturday we came up with a little drawing of how to make the papier mache lion and we decided to use four empty tp rolls for the legs/feet. Saturday night Sam came downstairs with an empty tp roll and I said, "Good job! We just need three more." About five minutes later, he came down with three empty rolls and a pair of scissors. "Got 'em Mom! Don't worry... I put it all next to the toilet!"

Wow, the supply gathering was WAY quicker than I thought! Here's the legs glued on a formula can in all their glory awaiting papier mache/paint.

Friday, February 18, 2011

You know when you think and think and think and THINK about something you want to do and what you come up with isn't really "it" but it's good enough. Then all of a sudden, "it" comes to mind and you know that is really "it"... EXACTLY what you've been trying to think of and when the light bulb moment hits you know.

Well, because I'm a little crazy, I plan my boys' birthday parties ridiculously far in advance. So I've been thinking of Jake's 4th birthday {it's in May} for months. While watching him zoooooom around the backyard on his little red scooter in his fuzzy footed pjs at 7:57 AM this morning, that little light bulb lit right up. "A little red scooter" theme fits our Jake perfectly and I'm already busy planning away for that afternoon in May!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

I've been doing without enough of it for a few months now. Since October 28th to be exact... yep, the day Luke was born :) He is the BEST baby on all accounts except one... until now that is. He's been pretty good at night because he'd always go right back t sleep after eating, but now Luke is sleeeeeeeeping "all night!" He wakes up once around 5 AM for a feeding, then back to sleep until 8ish. Therefore, Luke has {finally} earned this title. The small print at the top says "Mommy says I'm the" so really I think every Mom could and should give their adorable baby this title too {for just 5 bucks from Target}.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Today is my very favorite day of the year. And that's saying a lot because I love every single holiday and even almost every non-holiday day :) Here are a few pics from Valentine's Day 2011 at Gallamore West.

Made about a gazillion of these and only burned my finger on the glue gun once... that's a success in my book! {I also accidentally left it plugged in once while dropping Sam off @ Kindergarten... oops and shhh!!} I think they are THE cutest Valentines E.V.E.R. and I can say that because they aren't my idea. I found them here.

Breakfast was lovely... we even had freshly whipped cream. But that's just because I didn't realize we were out of whipped cream in the can and happened to have a pint of heavy whipping cream. It was soooo much better though that I think I'll officially ditch the Reddi Whip!

I'm about ready to devour one of these for dessert! I brought them to school for Sam's Valentine's Day Picnic {isn't that the cutest party idea?!} and they just happened to have the perfect amount of leftovers and I just happened to run out of time to make dessert. Win-win.

I am frantically searching around trying to find one more of these and can't remember where I printed them from :( Howdoesshe.com or eighteen25.com... but they are so cute and easy for teacher gifts!

And finally, with all the love I've showered on my boys today I can't forget my wonderful hubby. I gave him his favorite candy bar {ghiradelli chocolate with raspberry} wrapped in this {again, can't remember where it's from but it's awesome.} I also gave him pajamas. I know what you're thinking, so romantic! But it kind of is because he really wanted new pajamas and I want him to be cozy when he's at home. So that my friends is L.O.V.E. right?

So there you have it, Valentine's Day 2011 at Gallamore West. We were definitely feeling the love in our home today!

Friday, February 11, 2011

With such adorable little toesies on my boys, I just had to do a Valentine's Day craft with painted feet. Seriously, I cannot stop admiring that chubby little 3 month old cupid foot! I asked my crafty friend Alison {who is the Queen of painted feet crafts} how she would do a cupid. The one she did was adorable with vellum wings. I thought I had vellum but didn't and really need to get these cuties in the mail asap, so here are our wingless cupids. I made the bow and arrow from the Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut cartridge that I borrowed from my friend, Jenn. {Thanks, Jenn!}

I added a top page {font= cutie pie}. The cupids above are for Daddy so I tied them all together with ribbon and hung them on a nail begging for this cuteness!

I wrote their name and the year at the bottom of each cupid. I almost cried when I saw how big Sam's foot looks on the paper. He's only six, but it's practically a man cupid!

For the grandparents, I punched holes and tied them at the top. It's a little booklet of adorable toes... who wouldn't want that? :) We can't wait for the grandparents to open their Valentine's Day gifts!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

We hosted a very small early Valentine's Day gathering this morning. The boys each chose a few of their school buddies to come over for snacks, bag decorating, a Valentine's exchange, and my favorite part... making their own little"love shack" {thanks for the cute name, Alison!}
I was on a budget with a major B so I saved money by making ALL of the decorations from supplies already on hand {extra scrapbooking paper, twine from The Twinery, bottles, containers, craft supplies, and candy dishes I already had, and I used red and white star fabric from Jake's 2nd birthday party for the tablecloth} The printables were adorable and FREE! from Magnolia Creative Company that I found on Catch My Party... so cute and much appreciated!

I've been trying to feed my boys healthier lately, so I added fruit, along with {heart shaped} cheese and crackers to balance out the sugar.

The BEST cinnamon rolls ever... click here for the recipe. I tried to make them into cute little hearts on a practice run last week {it was my 1st time ever making cinnamon rolls... but they looked like the letter "w" so I just did circles today and dressed them up with heart sprinkles instead}

Love shacks ready to be decorated

The boys handed out these white chocolate covered rice krispie pop treats for Valentines and had a blast with their buddies celebrating Valentine's Day!

This was awesome... Sam, Jake and their buddies put on a half-time show of their own. They quietly practiced up in their bedroom for a loooooong time before half-time {even though they ran downstairs every two minutes to ask "how much longer until half-time?"} But it was worth the wait!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

I think these are my new favorite... Reese's PB hearts on peanut butter blossoms. Just for fun we wrapped up a few in a cute little bag, tied a pretty ribbon with an adorable little tag from Magnolia Creative Company and left them on the doorstep of someone who always makes me smile.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

We celebrated Groundhog's Day tonight by making these quick and easy desserts. The boys loved reading the poem, coloring their groundhog, then pulling him out of their "dirt" {crushed oreos in chocolate pudding cups} and saying, "He sees his shadow!" and "He doesn't see his shadow!"Sam drew another groundhog because he wanted Phil to see his shadow today. Really they could care less about his shadow since we live in Southern California where it's always about 70 degrees, even though today was a rare freeeeezing day {59 degrees}. But it's always fun to come up with a reason to eat "dirt cups" for dessert :) Happy Groundhog Day!

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Hi, I'm Laurie! I'm a former Elementary School Teacher turned Stay at Home Mom, happily raising our four little boys in San Diego. I like hot coffee, vintage treasure hunting, pennant banners, and anything lemon. When I'm not busy playing with our boys, you can find me in the kitchen baking- sometimes it's healthy, sometimes it's not - planning our next party, or crafting something awesome in the wee hours of the night.